That was under Biden, we are under Trump, so attitude is now very different towards Pakistan and India
True, but the Trump term will be over, and the Democrats will win the next election it seems, and USA is heading to the mid-terms which means if congress flips to the democrats, then even less can be done by the administration. Any new build F16 deal will need to go into the lame-duck period of the current administration given how long it takes to negotiate a deal which works against any new procurement as well.
It is a flawed policy to tie long term military procurement of new build F16s(or anything infact ) to a small window of opportunity that will in all likelihood be reversed by the democrats. This particular deal may last, but nothing bigger will stand the test of time and change of administration.
The change in relationship between the USA and Pakistan is not strategic in nature as there is no formal policy behind this, just the preferences of Trump as an individual and Pakistan is also being used as leverage in the USA/India negotiations.
Even though India is getting a rough time of it from the USA right now, India has the depth of formal institutional favourable bias garnered through various agreements and treaties towards it, that will always be there and it will be built up when the democrats come back in power, that won't be the case for Pakistan who will get reset to zero. This position is the unfortunate by product of the relationship between Pakistan/USA managed by GHQ who are interested in more short term tactical weapons, rather than politicians who would take a more long term strategic economic view of the relationship and who would try to replicate the formal treaty/agreements approach that India has done successful, for Pakistan also.
GHQ always undermines the ability of politicians to replicate this approach by India by offering a cheaper, more accessible and lower cost alternative pathway for the USA to achieve its political goals without long term agreements or commitments as a cost of those agreements. GHQ can and will flip on a dime for the USA, lets not kid ourselves here as we have all seen this repeately .
The Americans are not comfortable to describe any sale of weapons to Pakistan outside the prism of "helping with counter terrorism operations". They don't use this language to define the relationship with India or anyone else for the sale of weapons with those terms. That tells you how the Americans state still view this relationship and how not
hing has fundamentally or structurally changed. Even now, the language used for a sale to any other country refers to them as "allies, and strategic interests etc" to articulate those sales. That should tell you how Pakistan has not been able to change the fundamental relationship at a state to state level outside of the language of "terrorism" even now .....
That is why I don't put much stock in the F16V procurement angle suggested by many people. There is too much against that procurement of new builds ever taking place from money, politics, time window etc, no matter how much some would wish it. 2nd hand F16s that it can try and upgrade later, that is more possible if Pakistan acts quickly.
www.aljazeera.com
